Virtual telephone extension

a virtual telephone and extension technology, applied in the field of virtual telephone extension, can solve the problems of high cost of pager and cell phone services, low call quality, and uncertain mobile area coverag

US7684554B1Inactive Publication Date: 2010-03-238X8 INC
33 Cites 22 Cited by

Patent Information

Authority / Receiving Office
US · United States
Patent Type
Patents(United States)
Current Assignee / Owner
Publication Date
2010-03-23
Estimated Expiration
Not applicable · inactive patent

Smart Images

  • Figure 1
    Figure 1
  • Figure 2
    Figure 2
Patent Text Reader

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a method and system for routing communications. A plurality of communication devices are coupled to a communications network. Each communication device has a device identifier. A user-programmable database associates each of a plurality of user identifiers with a device identifier. A call-routing switch arrangement is coupled to the communication network through a portal communication device having a portal identifier. A user designates a destination user identifier when making a communication. The call-routing switches the call, directing the call to a destination device identifier responsive to the user-programmable database association between the destination user identifier and a device identifier. According to the present invention, communications are directed to users and are routed to associated equipment, a user identifier serving as a virtual extension number. Users remotely program the database to direct their calls to communication devices at various geographic, voice mail and e-mail destinations.
Need to check novelty before this filing date? Find Prior Art

Description

RELATED PATENT DOCUMENTS

[0001] This patent document is a continuation under 35 U.S.C. §120 of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 326,572 filed on Dec. 20, 2002 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,218,721 on May 15, 2007; which claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119 of Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60 / 345,258, filed on Jan. 2, 2002, each of which are incorporated by reference.CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This patent document is related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 966,713 filed on Sep. 28, 2001 and entitled “Distributed Local Telephony Gateway,” and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,394,803 on Jul. 1, 2008. The above-mentioned related application is fully incorporated herein by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0003] The present invention generally relates to communication systems and, more particularly, to a method for routing communications optionally using a broadband telephony system having distributed gateways.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0004] The comm...

Examples

Embodiment Construction

[0016]The present invention is believed to be applicable to various types of communication systems, including telephony systems, and has been found particularly suited to broadband data network telephony systems, including systems which route the communications via an Internet protocol (IP) network. While the present invention is not necessarily limited to such telephony systems, various aspects of the invention may be appreciated through a discussion of various examples using this context.

[0017]Conventionally, a telephony system caller desiring to call “someone” actually designates to the telephony system, by dialing a telephone number, an identifier for a telephony system circuit or channel. Typically, one or more communication devices are hard-wired to the telephony system or channel. Where more than one communication device is connected to a particular circuit, the communication devices operate together in parallel. Conventionally, communication equipment, rather than people, ar...